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Article Dans Une Revue Current Biology - CB Année : 2020

Viburnum tinus Fruits Use Lipids to Produce Metallic Blue Structural Color

Résumé

16 Viburnum tinus is an evergreen shrub that is native to the Mediterranean region but cultivated 17 widely in Europe and around the world. It produces ripe metallic blue fruits throughout winter [1]. 18 Despite its limited fleshy pulp,[2] its high lipid content[3] makes it a valuable resource to the small 19 birds[4] that act as its seed-dispersers[5]. Here, we find that the metallic blue appearance of the 20 fruits is produced by globular lipid inclusions arranged in a disordered multilayer structure. This 21 structure is embedded in the cell walls of the epicarp and underlaid with a dark layer of anthocyanin 22 pigments. The presence of such large, organised lipid aggregates in plant cell walls represents a new 23 mechanism for structural colouration and may serve as an honest signal of nutritional content. 24 Results and Discussion 25 The colours of fleshy fruits are thought to serve primarily to attract animal dispersers, and 26 understanding the origins and diversity of fleshy fruit colours provides insight into the ecological 27 interactions between plants and their dispersers.[7] Viburnum tinus (Adoxaceae) is a shrub native to 28 the Mediterranean region that is now cultivated around the world.[8] It produces large numbers of 29 metallic blue fruits throughout the year. Although a variety of bird dispersers consume V. tinus 30 fruits,[2] these serve as an especially important food source for birds during winter, including the 31 Eurasian blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla)[9] and the European robin (Erithacus rubecola).[10] While the 32 remarkable blue metallic appearance of V. tinus fruits (Figure 1) is commonly known and previously 33 reported,[11] the mechanism by which such blue colour is produced has not been elucidated. In a 34 review of earlier literature,[12] the colour of V. tinus has been attributed to the presence of 35 anthocyanin pigments. 36
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hal-02977848 , version 1 (14-11-2020)

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Rox Middleton, Miranda Sinnott-Armstrong, Yu Ogawa, Gianni Jacucci, Edwige Moyroud, et al.. Viburnum tinus Fruits Use Lipids to Produce Metallic Blue Structural Color. Current Biology - CB, 2020, 30 (19), pp.3804-3810.e2. ⟨10.1016/j.cub.2020.07.005⟩. ⟨hal-02977848⟩
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